Advancements in technology and the Internet have fundamentally changed how people and businesses interact and how they produce, distribute and consume goods and services. As technological advancement continues and digitalization rapidly expands to more segments of the economy, there is an increasing need to accurately measure and assess its impacts.

Statistics Canada has released for the first time estimates of the economic value of digital economic activities, that is, activities that enable or are highly affected by digitization. Initial estimates are presented on the value, growth and nature of digital economic activities in Canada, the provinces and the territories.

To enhance these initial estimates and ensure that statistical measures reflect emerging economic phenomena, Statistics Canada will continue to explore innovative ways to measure the digitalization of the economy. This includes moving beyond traditional household and business surveys — many of which are not well suited to capturing digital economic activities — to using new data sources and methods, such as administrative data, crowdsourcing and web scraping.

The nominal gross domestic product (GDP) associated with digital economic activities was $109.7 billion, or 5.5%, of total economic activity in Canada in 2017. Digital economic activities, commonly referred to as the digital economy, include activities that enable digitization or are highly affected by it. For example, the digital economy includes the information technology equipment that it relies upon to function, as well as e-commerce transactions and the digital delivery of products to consumers.

While the digital economy is not an industry, to give a sense of its scale, it was larger as a proportion of the total economy than mining, quarrying and oil and gas extraction (4.8%), transportation and warehousing (4.6%) and utilities (2.4%) in 2015.

From 2010 to 2017, the nominal GDP of digital economic activities (+40.2%) grew at a faster pace than the overall economy (+28.0%). On an annual basis, the digital economy increased more than the total economy every year except in 2011 and 2017, which were years of strong growth in the energy sector.

Telecommunications was the largest contributor to the digital economy

Telecommunications, part of the digital-enabling infrastructure domain, was the largest contributor to the digital economy in Canada. However, its contribution declined from 36.9% in 2010 to 28.7% in 2017. Over the same period, the contribution of e-commerce more than doubled, from 5.5% of the digital economy to 12.4%.

Digital economy job growth more than four times that of the total economy

In 2017 there were 886,114 jobs associated with digital economic activities, representing 4.7% of all jobs in Canada.

While the proportion of digital economy jobs was smaller than the share of GDP and output, jobs associated with the digital economy (+37.0%) grew at more than four times the pace of economy-wide job growth (+8.6%) from 2010 to 2017.

The largest contributors to digital economy jobs in 2017 were support services (30.2%), followed by e-commerce (18.6%). The hardware domain (6.4%) represented the smallest share of digital economy jobs.

Contribution of the digital economy varies by province and territory

In 2017, digital economic activities accounted for the largest share of total economic activities in Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia. The proportion of digital economic activities in relation to overall economic activity was the smallest in the three territories and in Saskatchewan.

From 2010 to 2017, nominal GDP of the digital economy grew in every province and territory. However, Manitoba, Yukon and Nunavut saw slower digital economy growth over the seven-year period when compared with nominal economy-wide GDP.

On a regional basis, British Columbia (+49.1%) and Quebec (+41.0%) saw the largest gains in digital economy jobs from 2010 to 2017, while Newfoundland and Labrador (-9.1%) and the Northwest Territories (-3.5%) reported the only declines.

Electrician Forum Brought to you by Schneider Electric

As industry experts you know the products you use everyday better than anyone and should have input on what information you receive about products and what could improve them.

Therefore, we want your insight on the biggest challenges or issues you face when installing loadcentres, breakers (CAFI, GFI's…) and other surge protection devices. We ask that you do not provide product specific details but rather your general issues and concerns or any questions that have come to mind while working with these product types. Provide us with your valued expert insight into the issues you have faced so manufacturers can better inform you about the installation and use of these products. Lets generate some discussion that will help guide the Industry.

The invisible impact of powerlines should never be underestimated. In the past decade alone, 19 people in Ontario have lost their lives from overhead powerline contact. May 13 to 19 is Powerline Safety Week, which is meant to inform people across the province to stay vigilant of powerlines when doing work at home or on the job.

"Our work in raising awareness of powerline safety won't be finished until there are zero injuries or lives lost from contact," says Dr. Joel Moody, Chief Public Safety Officer, Electrical Safety Authority (ESA). "All it takes is a misstep or careless error to change the life of you, your colleagues or family."

ABB has an extensive portfolio of eco-efficient solutions and services that can help decouple economic growth from environmental impacts. In fact, over half of ABB's worldwide revenues are generated by technologies that combat the causes of climate change. The company’s goal is to increase this contribution from 57 percent in 2018 to 60 percent by 2020.

The company’s commitment to combatting climate change includes limiting the environmental impact of its own operations. ABB’s current target for climate action is to reduce its own GHG emissions by 40 percent by 2020 from a 2013 baseline.

Canada’s wind energy industry further expanded its installed capacity in 2018, while solidifying its status as the lowest-cost source of new electricity generation. Newly commissioned projects brought total national wind energy capacity to close to 13,000 megawatts (MW). Meanwhile, competitive auction results in Saskatchewan and Alberta confirmed the wind industry’s ability to continue to deliver record-low prices.

The six wind energy projects that were powered up in 2018 added 566 MW of installed capacity — a continuation of steady growth that contributed to an average annual growth rate of 20% per year since 2008.

A joint research team has developed a new type of highly flexible and stable solar cell that could be used in wearable electronics.

The power supply is vital to the safety of wearable electronics. Perovskite solar cell (PSC) has been widely used to manufacture flexible batteries because it is highly efficient, cheap, and easy to use. Perovskite is a material with the same type of crystal structure as calcium titanium oxide.

The flexible substrate is the key factor to determine the performance of PSCs.

FLIR Systems have released the FLIR VP40, a non-contact voltage detector for use in North America designed for field-troubleshooting and verification of residential, commercial, and industrial electrical installations. The VP40 makes it easy to quickly troubleshoot live and neutral wiring to ensure a safe job site.

With its built-in flashlight and CAT IV safety rating, the FLIR VP40 is a must-have for preliminary job site checks for live wiring. The durable, pen-sized tester quickly identifies the presence of AC voltage without contacting wires, even in the latest safety outlets.

Expanding on its extensive product line for motion control applications, Sensata Technologies recently released the Crydom DRMS Series hybrid motor starters.

These new hybrid starters integrate the benefits of both solid state and electromechanical relay technologies to produce a compact device that can control electrical power delivery to motors as large as 4kW. Suitable applications range from access control, packaging equipment, lifts and escalators to industrial process control and machine tooling systems.

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